shell

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a very light narrow racing boat

   The regatta had at least one shell from all the local schools.

2. 2
   noun

   a rigid covering that envelops an object

   the satellite is covered with a smooth shell of ice

3. 3
   verb

   remove from its shell or outer covering

   shell the legumes

4. 4
   verb

   use explosives on

   The enemy has been shelling us all day

5. 5
   verb

   hit the pitches of hard and regularly

   The visiting team shelled the pitcher for eight runs in the first inning.

6. 6
   verb

   fall out of the pod or husk

   The corn shelled

7. 7
   noun

   A hard external covering of an animal.

   In some mollusks, as the cuttlefish, the shell is concealed by the animal's outer mantle and is considered internal.

8. 8
   noun

   One of the outer layers of skin of an onion.

   The restaurant served caramelized onion shells.

Etymology

From Middle English schelle, from Old English sċiell, from Proto-West Germanic *skallju, from Proto-Germanic *skaljō, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to split, cleave”). Compare West Frisian skyl (“peel, rind”), Dutch schil (“peel, skin, rink”), Low German Schell (“shell, scale”), Irish scelec (“pebble”), Old Church Slavonic сколика (skolika, “shell”). More at shale. Doublet of sheal. * (computing): From being viewed as an outer layer of interface between the user and the operating-system internals.